


Avengers: World War Hulk

by ThisStrangeObsession



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Timeline, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Endgame Alternate Timeline Shenanigans, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Canon-Typical Violence, Everyone Needs A Hug, Hulk Needs a Hug, Loki Escapes With The Tesseract Timeline, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Origin of the Lullaby, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Natasha Romanov, Science Bros, Thor vs. Hulk fight, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 11:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19198282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisStrangeObsession/pseuds/ThisStrangeObsession
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS“The case,” Tony said.“The case…? Where’s the case? Where’s Loki?” Thor stood. “Loki!”All eyes turned to where the God of Mischief had been just moments ago, but all they found was a monster ambling toward them with an angry snarl. SHIELD agents closed ranks around the Secretary, and in their panic, opened fire as Hulk approached. Bullets bounced off impervious green flesh, falling to the ground in a hailstorm of crushed metal droplets, and Hulk grunted, hands raising to deflect the annoyance away from his face.Tony sighed. “Oh, boy. Here we go.”___After Loki escapes in the 2012 alternate timeline, it's up to the Avengers to track him down. But with the team scattered, SHIELD compromised by HYDRA, and a new threat closing in, it'll take everything they have to prevent a future even worse than 2023. Luckily, they have a Hulk.





	1. Chapter 1

No one saw it happen.

The moment Loki disappeared with the Tesseract, everyone was focused on Tony Stark, laying on the floor stunned by the malfunctioning arc reactor in his chest. Thor at his side. Alexander Pierce, the Secretary of the World Security Council, looming over them. SHIELD agents standing guard. Only the civilians by the east exit of Stark Tower’s lobby ignored the fallen magnate – they were too busy running for their lives.

If the sight of a ten-foot green monster crashing through a stairwell wasn’t enough to send them off screaming, the roar as his giant fist bashed in the nearest wall certainly was. The area cleared out in seconds, leaving behind only a fallen guard, an empty open briefcase, and an irritated Hulk.

But the crowd around Tony didn’t notice. Thor set Mjölnir over the flickering circle of light, and with a gentle tap of the electrified hammer, the arc reactor reset, snapping Tony out of his paralyzed state. It wasn’t until Tony reached for the briefcase containing the Tesseract that he realized both it and their prisoner were gone.

“The case,” Tony said.

“The case…? Where’s the case? Where’s Loki?” Thor stood. “Loki!”

All eyes turned to where the God of Mischief had been just moments ago, but all they found was a monster ambling toward them with an angry snarl. SHIELD agents closed ranks around the Secretary, and in their panic, opened fire as Hulk approached. Bullets bounced off impervious green flesh, falling to the ground in a hailstorm of crushed metal droplets, and Hulk grunted, hands raising to deflect the annoyance away from his face.

Tony sighed. “Oh, boy. Here we go.”

He twisted to peer up at the Secretary, huddled low behind his black-armored protectors. “He’s one of us! Tell them to stand down!”

“Hold your fire!” Pierce ordered.

The shooting stopped, echoes of gunfire fading, and the sudden silence was deafening. All was still as the clouds of gunpowder dissipated.

“Now what?” the agent nearest Tony whispered.

Slowly, Hulk’s arms lowered, revealing an all-too-human face contorted with terrible hurt – and utter fury. He roared.

“Run,” Tony said, and scrambled to his feet. “Definitely run.”

Pierce backed up. “Retreat!”

At his word, the SHIELD agents fled, but they were no match for Hulk’s speed. The lobby echoed with booming footfalls as he closed in, only halted by Thor blocking his path.

“Banner—”

A giant green fist sent the God of Thunder flying through the nearest wall, leaving Mjölnir behind.

“No Banner! Only Hulk!” the giant bellowed.

Tony looked to the Thor-sized hole in the wood paneling. “Shouldn’t have told him to take the stairs.”

Hulk ignored the small man running after him, focused on the threat racing for the doors. Tony slipped on his magnetic wristbands, but the last thing Hulk needed was to see a red-and-gold projectile flying in close proximity; he’d probably smash it to pieces before it reached its creator. The only way to stop him was to get his attention.

“Hey, Big Green!” Tony said, waving his arms. “You remember me, right?”

Hulk paused and peered down. “Tin Man.”

“Iron Man—” Tony glanced behind him, where the Secretary and SHIELD unit had almost reached the west exit, and turned back, “— but yeah, sure. Tin Man, your friend. That’s me.”

“Friend?”

“Yeah. Friend,” Tony said, but Hulk looked past him, grimacing as his quarry escaped. “Listen, buddy, those guys out there can’t hurt you, okay? The only thing we need to worry about is Loki. He’s gone.”

Hulk frowned. “Where Puny God go?”

“I don’t know. But if we’re gonna find him, we need Banner back for a bit,” Tony said. “What do you say, big guy? Sleep now, smash later?”

“No Banner!” Hulk beat his fist against his chest. “Hate Banner!”

“Okay, fair enough. I get that you two have some issues, but—”

Mjölnir slammed into the back of Hulk’s head, sending him careening forward. Tony jumped out of the way as the giant fell with a terrible thud, the floor fracturing from the impact, and Thor appeared, catching his hammer on the rebound. Hulk stumbled to his feet, disoriented, and roared as he leapt for his attacker.

Tony ran in the other direction. “Deploy!”

The Mark 7 swooped in through the stairwell Hulk had busted open, encasing Tony in his battle-damaged armor, without even a faceplate to use his HUD. He attempted liftoff, but his jets only sputtered and died.

“Your propulsion systems are offline, sir,” JARVIS said. At least the AI was still functional.

Tony swore, turning toward the chaos. Across the lobby, the behemoth and the god laid waste to his tower, leaving shattered glass and debris in their wake. Anyone in their path would be collateral.

“JARVIS, lock down the building. Don’t let anyone on the first floor except the Avengers,” he said. “Who’s on comm?”

“Captain Rogers, sir.”

“Patch me through,” he said. “Cap, we’ve got trouble. Do you copy?”

“I copy,” Steve’s voice replied. “What kind of trouble?”

A table flew past Tony’s head, and he ducked behind the reception desk. “Loki escaped, for one.”

“What? How?”

“I’ll give you the Stark’s Notes later. Right now, we have a bigger problem.”

“How big?”

“Hulk-sized,” Tony said, peeking over his cover as the giant charged at Thor, obliterating the display model of the Stark Clean Energy Project. Thor shot a tendril of lightning to deter him, but missed, and nearby wood paneling burst into flames. “He’s in smash mode again, and the red-caped Tesla Coil isn’t helping any. How soon can you get to the lobby?”

“On my way.”

Tony rounded the desk to observe, staying low in case another piece of furniture flew in his direction. Thor was the better fighter, but Hulk’s brute strength outmatched even a god, and neither showed any signs of tiring. Even with Cap incoming, the likelihood of breaking them up through force was pretty much nil. He had to use a different approach.

“JARVIS, call Barton and Romanoff and give them the 411. Let’s see if they’ve got anything in their bag of spy tricks that can slow down The Incredible Wrecking Ball. Like an elephant tranq or ten.”

“Already done, sir. They’re en route.”

Until then, Tony was on his own.

“How much juice left?”

“0.3 percent, sir.” Enough for one shot. “I’d advise against taking rash act—”

JARVIS stopped short as Hulk threw Thor into a concrete support column, and the pillar crumbled to the ground in pieces. If the fight went on much longer, Stark Tower would fall. There was no time to wait for reinforcements. This had to end now.

As Thor burst out of the rubble, hammer raised to retaliate, Tony lifted his gauntlet to blast a line in the marble floor between the dueling supernaturals – and hit a charging Hulk instead. The giant turned and bellowed in rage, grabbing a chunk of concrete.

Tony dropped his arm. “Oh, shi—”

The slab of cement hurled Tony into a shatterproof window, his armor taking the brunt of the impact, and he collapsed onto a heap of wreckage.

“Suit integrity is 0.02 percent. I recommend _not_ engaging the Hulk again, sir,” JARVIS said.

“It was an accident,” Tony wheezed, and looked over at his green friend. “It was an accident!”

But Hulk had already turned his attention back to his opponent, flinging the god into a second pillar. Thor twisted in mid-air to dodge the column, and instead, crashed hammer-first through the west exit doors. So much for the shatterproof glass.

Tony dragged himself out of the debris as Hulk huffed in Thor’s direction, preparing to pursue. If this brawl spilled out onto the street, it could destroy a city already devastated by Loki’s army. He had to keep the fight inside.

Cap’s voice came over the comm. “I have eyes on Loki. Fourteenth floor.”

Perfect. If there was one thing that could distract the Mean Green Smash Machine, it was his new favorite ragdoll.

“Get him down here,” Tony said. “I’ve got an idea.”

Before Tony could call out to get his friend’s attention, Mjölnir shot through the doors and knocked Hulk clear to the other side of the lobby. The giant crashed to the ground, and his colossal limbs flailed to pull himself upright, but the hammer on his chest didn’t budge, pinning him down.

“Banner!” Thor yelled, and crossed the lobby in one leap. “Enough of this chaos—”

The god’s command was cut short by the deafening _boom_ of Hulk’s fists smashing into the floor. Marble and concrete cracked beneath him, and the ground shook under Tony’s armored feet. The building was fortified against earthquakes, but it wouldn’t be long before the layers of cement and reinforced steel gave way and the giant fell through, endangering the hundreds of civilians still sheltering underground.

“Excuse me,” Tony said, coming up behind Thor. “Pick up your hammer before Big Green uses it to renovate my basement.”

Thor stood firm, as immovable as his weapon. “His destruction is mindless. He must be stopped.”

“Yeah, from crushing the poor schmucks camped out in my garage. Bring it back, Pikachu.”

Reluctantly, Thor raised his arm. Just as the hammer flew into its owner’s hand, something whizzed past Tony’s head – an arrow. In the second it took to turn and see Clint behind them, three more had been loosed. They embedded themselves in the opposite wall, the east exit doors, the ceiling, missing any discernible target. Maybe Agent Romanoff had hit Barton’s head a little too hard.

“Nice shot, Katniss,” Tony said.

Clint smirked. “Wait for it."

Hulk leapt to his feet, charging toward them, and when he crossed the arrows’ path, a dome of blinding white electricity flashed. The giant roared in pain as the voltage hit, stumbling back. Clint notched another arrow, this one filled with tranquillizer, and prepared to shoot.

“Clint, stand down!”

Tony and Thor turned as Natasha sprinted to Clint’s side, and her friend lowered his bow. “Nat?”

“Disable the containment field,” Natasha said, looking past him. “I’m going in.”

Hulk’s wild eyes settled on Natasha as he paced in his invisible cage. She drew her weapons, but instead of taking aim, she crouched, setting the guns on the floor where Hulk could see them. 

“Are you crazy?” Clint asked.

“I got him into this. I have to get him out,” she replied, standing.

No longer focused on the threat of attack, Hulk turned, ripping the bolted-down reception desk out of the ground and throwing it at the barrier behind him like a children’s toy. It hit the perimeter in mid-air, repelled by the powerful magnetic field, and crashed to the floor.

“You know that’s suicide, right?” Clint asked.

“Maybe,” she said as Hulk lobbed a broken chair this time, nearly hitting one of the activated arrows. “But we’ve got about ten seconds before he figures out how to break free anyway, and I’m the only one here who hasn’t taken a shot at him. He might listen to me.”

Clint slipped his tranq arrow back into its quiver and grabbed her arm. “I can’t let you do this.”

“Wasn’t asking your permission,” she said, and twisted out of his grip.

Without another moment’s hesitation, she ran toward the barrier.

“Nat!” he yelled, but she only sped up, and Clint swore. He’d never catch her in time, and neither Tony nor Thor interfered. She’d made her decision.

Lifting his bow, Clint hit his first target again, and the electrified arrow combusted, deactivating the containment field just seconds before Natasha passed through it. She vaulted over a broken table and rolled, landing not fifteen feet away from Hulk. The giant didn’t notice her at first, his back turned as he tore a huge mounted tv monitor from the wall and hurled it at the exit. When it crashed into the door instead of hitting an electrified cage, he stopped, confused.

“Hey, big guy,” Natasha said, standing, and Hulk spun around with a deafening roar. She waited until its echo faded, and raised her hands. “It’s over. You’re okay. We’re okay.”

She took a step forward, and Hulk rose up to his full height, an enormous green fist drawing back in warning. Natasha froze, only her breaths shaking as she spoke in a low, calm voice.

“I know you’re angry,” she said. “But if you don’t calm down, you’re going to hurt a lot of people.”

Hulk grunted, harsh features deepening in a frown as his eyes – brown eyes, Bruce’s eyes – narrowed in pain. No, not just pain. Sadness.

“People hurt Hulk.”

Natasha blinked in surprise. She’d seen him acknowledge Cap’s commands, make affirmative noises, possibly nod once or twice upstairs, but she hadn’t expected him to speak. It wasn’t Bruce’s voice – even if there were faint traces of the soft-spoken scientist’s tone – but despite its unnerving resonance, it was undeniably human. Natasha almost smiled, shaking her head.

This wasn’t a monster. This was a child.

“They were just scared,” she replied.

He huffed. “People always scared.”

“I’m not. They’re not,” she said, nodding behind her. “We’re your friends.”

The giant glared at his former teammates, snarling. “Friends hurt Hulk.”

“I’m sorry. I'm sure they are, too.” When he only huffed again in reply, she slipped off a fingerless black glove and offered her hand. “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

His dark eyes gleamed, curiosity mingling with distrust. “Promise?”

“Yes. Promise.”

Slowly, Hulk’s fearsome expression relaxed, fists unclenching, and he shuffled cautiously toward her. Even so, it took only a few strides for him to close the distance between them, and Natasha held her breath, never breaking eye contact as he approached. She turned her wrist, palm facing outward. His hand rose to mirror her own, and she reached out, touching his fingertip. A sense of calm washed over his face. Natasha smiled.

Then, she began to sing.

It was a melancholy, hauntingly dissonant song, perfectly suited to her smooth alto voice and her native tongue. No one listening would understand the lullaby – as far as she knew, none of the team spoke Russian, even Clint – but the meaning carried through. It was one she hadn’t heard in twenty years, and yet the words and melody came back to her as though they’d been sung at her bedside only yesterday. There were some memories even the Red Room could never erase.

She kept singing even as Hulk shook his head, disoriented, and stumbled back. Vivid green skin paled, muscles contracting, bones shifting and shortening until the giant was no more than a man, lying peacefully on the floor, finally at rest. His eyes closed, and still, she sang on.

_Sleep, my child_  
_The day has grown old_  
_Sleep, my child_  
_The sun is getting low_


	2. Chapter 2

When Bruce awoke, it was to the sound of blaring sirens. He pried his eyes open as emergency vehicles stopped outside the wall of windows to his right, and he tried to focus on them, but something else caught his attention. A word – no, a sign.

STARK INDUSTRIES.

“Hey, Bruce,” Tony’s voice said above him. “Good to have you back, buddy.”

The groggy scientist groaned, shivering at the cold tile beneath his bare torso. He shifted in his oversized, tattered pants and carefully sat up, placing each of the faces gathered around him.

Tony, his battered Iron Man armor missing the helmet's faceplate. Thor. Natasha. A man he hadn’t met – Barton, the brainwashed SHIELD agent Fury had briefed them on. He’d been there when Bruce arrived to join the fight. Was he on their side now?

“What happened?” Bruce asked, looking round the devastated lobby.

“Déjà vu,” Tony said to himself, and drew closer. “We won, of course.”

Thor looked off into the distance. “And then we lost.”

“Kind of. It’s complicated.” Tony offered an armored hand, which Bruce took, clutching the sagging brownish material around his waist as he stood. “Look, let’s all head upstairs. You can put some clothes on, we can figure out our next move—”

“Tony,” Natasha interrupted, and everyone followed her line of sight.

Across the lobby, a small battalion of armed SHIELD agents in riot gear stormed through the busted west entrance, marching toward them. In the center of the ominous unit was an official-looking man in a suit, his eyes fixed on Bruce.

“Dr. Banner,” he said as they approached. “I need you to come with us.”

Bruce shied back instinctively in the presence of the agents’ guns, and Tony lay a reassuring metallic hand on his shoulder.

“Stay calm, big guy. I’ve got this.” Tony stepped in front of him. “I have to ask you to stop right there, Mr. Secretary—”

But Bruce sighed, shaking his head. “It’s okay, Tony. I expected this.”

Pierce and his men stopped ten feet from the Avengers, warily eying the scientist among them. They must know they couldn’t shoot without bringing back the beast, yet their fingers twitched toward their triggers, and their nervous energy was infectious. Bruce counted his breaths, focusing on the dark-suited man before him instead of his armed escort, but somehow, the Secretary seemed infinitely more dangerous.

“Romanoff, Barton, detain Dr. Banner,” Pierce said.

Bruce tensed, keenly aware of the agents behind him, but neither moved to follow the order.

“That’s Director Fury’s call,” Natasha replied.

“Nick Fury is no longer in command of SHIELD.”

“Why?” Clint asked.

“He defied a direct order from the World Security Council.”

“Let me guess – the one to nuke New York City?” Tony asked. “Thanks for the extra ammo, but next time, maybe don’t fire a missile at Manhattan. I might not always be there to catch it.”

Thor glanced between them, gesturing to Pierce with Mjölnir. “Stark, you mean to say this man attacked his own people?”

“We would have sacrificed a few million to save billions, yes. That’s what any rational leader would do,” Pierce replied. “I’d think that’s something a prince would understand.”

Thor lowered his hammer, but said nothing, and Natasha spoke up.

“We had a way to close the portal,” she said. “Fury was right to stand down.”

“Are we forgetting that Loki’s still missing? Kind of a priority right now,” Tony interjected.

Thor nodded, looking to Pierce. “As long as Loki has the Tesseract, your realm is still in danger. To find him, we require Banner’s assistance – in both his forms.”

“The creature belongs in a cage,” Pierce said.

“I _am_ the cage, Mr. Secretary,” Bruce replied, and all eyes turned back to him. “I only let him out because I knew he’d fight the biggest threat, and that was Loki’s army.”

Pierce gestured to Tony and Thor. “And the other Avengers?”

“He fought you?” Bruce asked Tony, surprised.

Tony pointed at Pierce. “Because your people shot at him. If Thor and I hadn’t been here—” He glanced at a guilt-ridden Bruce and paused. “This is on you, Mr. Secretary. Get your minions and their guns out of my tower. Now.”

Pierce looked to Bruce. “Dr. Banner?”

The SHIELD agents shifted uneasily as they waited for his answer, and Bruce gripped the hem between his fingers until his knuckles shone white. It would be so simple to lose control, to let the Other Guy handle this. But whatever else had happened today – causing casualties in battle, fighting his own allies – nothing would be more unforgivable than setting the monster loose when it could be avoided. He couldn’t make that choice. It would have to be theirs.

“I only agreed to work with SHIELD because that’s where I thought I could do the most good, but I can’t help anyone from inside a cell. I’m not going anywhere, Mr. Secretary, and I really don’t want anyone else to get hurt. So please,” Bruce replied, shaking his head. “Don’t make me angry.”

For the first time, Pierce looked nervous. His gaze flicked between each Avenger – his insubordinate agents included – and he all but grimaced as he held up a hand.

“Stand down,” he said to the unit behind him, and they obeyed. “Effective immediately, the Avengers Initiative is disbanded and disavowed. Any actions you take will be as private citizens and subject to U.S. and international law. Barton, Romanoff, report to the Triskelion to debrief. Everyone else, move out.”

The unit slowly backed away as Pierce retreated, then turned and followed him to the exit. When they disappeared through the shattered doors, Bruce let out a sigh of relief, and Natasha turned to him with a slight, sardonic grin.

“I thought you were always angry.”

Bruce cracked a wary smile. “Semantics,” he said, facing the others, and his smile faded. Someone was missing. “Where’s Steve?”

“JARVIS, we have eyes on Cap yet?” Tony asked.

“No, sir,” JARVIS announced through a concealed speaker overhead. “My security cameras are still malfunctioning. Captain Rogers’ voice match was last heard on the ninth floor, five minutes ago.”

“That can’t be good.” Tony looked past the ruins to the emergency crews just outside. “Lift the lockdown, but keep me updated. Time to go rescue Search and Rescue.”

Thor glanced skyward. “I’ll go. If Loki was able to battle the Captain, he must have broken free of his chains. Only I or our green friend are a match for him now.”

“He’s all yours,” Bruce said.

“Meet us on the top floor when you’re done,” Tony said. Thor spun his hammer, building momentum, and suddenly flew through a hole in the ceiling. Tony turned to Natasha. “Agent Romanoff?”

Natasha exchanged a look with Clint, who nodded. “We’re with you.”

“This way,” Tony replied, leading them to the nearest elevator.

The doors opened to reveal another SHIELD unit, this one less heavily armed but no less intimidating. In command appeared to be a bald man with glasses who wore credentials pinned to his suit.

“Mr. Stark,” he said. Maybe it was the lingering tension of the standoff with Pierce’s unit, but there was something sinister about the black-clad operatives.

Natasha looked them over, raising an eyebrow. “Where’s the scepter?”

“In trusted hands,” the man replied, in a tone that meant anything more was classified.

They got into the elevator, and Bruce noticed Tony’s troubled frown. “Tony, what’s wrong?”

As the doors closed, Tony sighed.

“I was really looking forward to that shawarma.”

*****

Atop a peak in the remote mountains of Mongolia, Loki watched the stars and planets, though even his heightened sight would never find Asgard among them from this distance. In his hands, the Tesseract glowed, bathing his pale skin in an otherworldly blue light, so near to the shade of his original form. The last of his abrasions finally healed, and Loki shuddered, newly-mended bones aching with a phantom pain. But as terrible as the Hulk’s wrath had been, he had once known worse – and may again.

_If the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice we cannot find you._

The Other’s warning rang in his ears. He had the Tesseract, but Thanos would have heard of his army’s defeat; if he returned without the scepter as well, there would be no limit to the agony he would endure.

For now, he must remain on Midgard.


	3. Chapter 3

One hundred stories up and twenty minutes later, Bruce entered the workshop/lounge in a borrowed set of casual clothes from Tony’s penthouse, joining what remained of the team. Natasha and Clint had made themselves at home in the seating area, stretched out and nursing a round of liquor from Tony’s bar. The engineer, in contrast, was at his workstation, swiping at a transparent screen. Between them lie two vaguely person-shaped craters in the floor, and Bruce’s eyes widened.

“What’s this?” he asked, skirting around them, and Tony smiled.

“‘Asgardian on Cement,’ 2012. An Impressionist masterpiece, if you ask me, and you did ask me. I might just frame it.” Tony’s smug grin faded at Bruce’s confusion. “According to the artist, ‘Hulk smashed Puny God’ is the official title.”

Bruce frowned, but his curiosity won out. “Which one?”

“Both, technically. You saw the rest of the exhibit downstairs, but to give credit where it’s due, that was a creative collaboration.” Tony looked out one of the broken windows. “And here’s the co-contributor now.”

Thor flew into the room, setting Mjölnir by his side with a _clank_ of otherworldly metal.

“I’ve not been able to find Captain Rogers or my brother. Either Loki used the Tesseract to take them elsewhere, or the Captain left of his own accord.”

“Rogers wouldn’t abandon his post unless he had a reason,” Natasha said.

“Maybe Loki tried to steal the scepter?” Clint suggested. “That would explain Sitwell giving it up. Cap could have it.”

Tony leaned against the workshop table. “Or Loki does. His thing is illusions, right? He could’ve played the patriot again.”

“He did.”

Everyone turned to find Steve emerging from the stairwell access hallway, cowl off and shield down.

“And he has the scepter,” Steve continued, coming down the steps.

“Hold it right there, Uncle Sam,” Tony said. “How do we know _you’re_ not Loki?”

The Captain stopped, nodding with a good-natured grin. “I was wrong about you, Tony. You made the sacrifice play.”

He extended his hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Tony stepped forward and shook it. 

“Couldn’t find a big enough set of pliers.”

“We’ve each parted ways since the battle,” Thor interjected. “Loki could be any one of us.”

“Great,” Tony replied. “And here I was just getting used to trusting a couple of professional spies.”

“We must prove ourselves.” Thor lifted his hammer. “My brother is not worthy of Mjölnir.”

Clint rolled his eyes and stood, turning away from the bar. In one lightning-fast move, he shot an arrow behind him without looking, shattering the empty bottle of liquor he and Natasha had finished. Tony checked in with Bruce, judging his reaction to the violent surprise, but the scientist just glanced down at the unbroken portion of the floor.

“You’re cleaning that up,” Tony said to Clint, and the archer shrugged.

Their eyes turned next to Natasha, who gave a subtle smirk before speaking a string of Russian, simultaneously signing the translation in ASL.

“Anybody here speak secret agent?” Tony asked.

“She said, ‘I’m glad it wasn’t your last birthday party,’” Clint answered. “That make any sense to you, Stark?”

“Yeah. Glad it wasn’t mine, either.” Tony scanned the room. “Before anyone asks me to ‘prove myself,’ Birdbrain and _La Femme Natasha_ here just watched me take off a biometrically-locked suit of armor, piece by broken piece. And Banner – I’m just gonna trust you, ‘cause I’d rather not add to my new art collection.”

Bruce nodded. “Appreciated.”

“So Loki is still out there. We need to find him – and the Tesseract – as soon as possible,” Steve said.

“Do we still have the tracking algorithm?” Bruce asked.

“No,” Clint answered. When the scientist raised an eyebrow, he added, “You weren’t my only target.”

“We’ll have to start from scratch.”

Tony returned to his workstation and swiped at his screen, which flashed red. “SHIELD’s already revoked my clearance – I don’t have access to their spectrometer network.”

“We do,” Natasha said, nodding at Clint. “But not from here.”

“Funny, I always took you for the double-agent type.”

“How long will your technology take to locate the Tesseract?” Thor asked.

“With the spectrometers, twelve hours,” Bruce replied. “Without them, it’s anyone’s guess.”

“The Bifrost is still broken, but Heimdall will have seen what's happened here. I will ask him for aid.”

“Heimdall?”

“One gifted with all-knowing sight. Loki is immune to his power, but the Tesseract is not.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “That’s convenient.”

“Once my father has gathered enough dark magic, I can return to Asgard and learn the Tesseract's location. But it will take time.”

“How long?” Steve asked.

"I do not know.”

“Let’s try both methods.” Steve looked at each Avenger. “It doesn’t matter how we find it, only that we do.”

“Ay-ay, Captain,” Tony replied with a tired mock salute.

With that, the arrangements were made. Natasha and Clint departed for SHIELD headquarters in Washington. Steve and Thor left to assist with rescue efforts. Without a functioning Iron Man suit, Tony wasn’t in a position to help, and the last place Banner wanted to be was in the ruins of a warzone, where any number of accidents could trigger another incident. They stayed in the tower, and once the others had gone, Tony walked stiffly over to the sofa and took a seat, wincing.

“You okay, Tony?” Bruce asked.

He nodded. “Just some contusions, a few bruised ribs. Could’ve been worse.”

“You need to see a doctor,” Bruce said.

“You’re a doctor.”

“Not that kind of doctor.”

“It’s honestly not that bad,” Tony said, lifting his shirt up, and gingerly touched his injured side. “I’m just lucky Big Green didn’t aim any higher.”

“The Other Guy did this?”

After the Secretary’s accusation, Bruce shouldn’t have been surprised, but he wasn’t prepared to see the damage the monster had caused, and looked away.

“My fault,” Tony said, leaning back. “Stupid move, really. Tried to create a distraction, gave him a nasty surprise instead. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy.”

“Tony, he could’ve killed you.”

“But he didn’t.” The engineer looked pointedly at his new friend. “He saved the world today. You both did.”

Bruce took a seat in the chair across from Tony and ran a nervous hand through his hair. “He smashed some aliens. There’s a difference.”

“He saved my life.”

“Before or after he almost killed you?” Bruce asked, purely rhetorical.

Tony shrugged. “So he’s a bit of a wild card. The rest of us didn’t start out on the right foot, either, but we worked through it. We had to. It's the only way we could beat Loki - as a team.”

“But I’m not on it,” Bruce said.

“Of course you are.”

Bruce just shook his head, and Tony leaned forward.

“You want to know where you can do the most good? It’s right here, Bruce. What’s your favorite field? Astrophysics? Radiology? Biochemistry? Name it, I’ll get you a lab. No strings, just science.” Bruce eyed him with suspicion. “And if, occasionally, the Other Guy gets to smash some bad guys, where’s the harm?”

“You know where the harm is, Tony. How many civilian casualties were there today? How many of them were because of him – because of me?”

“And how many more people were saved because of you? It’s not a zero-sum game, Bruce. Look, this Avengers thing, I didn’t buy it at first either. But we did a lot of good out there today, and even after we catch Loki, the world will need us again. It will. And you should be there.”

“I won’t let him be a weapon,” Bruce said.

Tony carefully rose from the sofa and lay a hand on the scientist’s shoulder. “Then let him be a hero.”

For a moment, Bruce was silent, but finally shrugged him off and stood.

“It doesn’t matter. You heard the Secretary. We’re through,” he said, walking away, and Tony blocked his path.

“No, we’re just not sanctioned by SHIELD. And after the nuclear dirt we dug up on the Helicarrier, that’s probably a good thing. They can’t be trusted. We have to get the Tesseract before they do, ‘cause you can bet Phase II’s first target will be you.”

“I’ll survive.”

“But we won’t.”

Bruce paused and glanced at the floor. His nervous hands fidgeted as he thought things over, and finally nodded. “I’ll help you find the Tesseract, but after that, I’m done.”

“Deal.” They shook hands, and Tony gestured around them. “In the meantime, _mi casa es su casa_. Want a drink?”

“No,” Bruce said, looking sick at the thought. “But I _am_ starving.”

Tony smiled, pointing to the elevator. 

“Kitchen’s that-a-way. Let’s go,” Tony said, and as they approached the doors, Bruce raised an eyebrow at the curious dent in the metal surface. Tony smirked. “We shouldn’t have told the big guy to take the stairs.”


	4. Chapter 4

It was a full 24 hours before the airspace over Manhattan was reopened for non-emergency vessels, and the moment the ban was lifted, Pepper was on her way back to Stark Tower. Tony was already waiting when the helicopter touched down, and with heels in hand, Pepper jumped from the aircraft and ran to him.

Careless of anyone who might see their enthusiastic PDA, Tony kissed her and held her as tightly as his injured body could manage.

“I tried to call,” he whispered against her shoulder, tears in his eyes.

“What?”

“On the way up. With the nuke. I tried to call, but it didn’t— I didn’t— And I almost—”

Pepper stroked his hair. “It’s okay, Tony. You’re okay.”

It meant the world to him – literally – that she was here to tell him so, but she was wrong. He’d stared into the void, and it had stared back, giant and alien and inevitable. Fury had been right. Humanity wasn’t alone, and even if they’d won the battle, they were in no way prepared for the war. Tony wasn’t okay, but he’d live. He had to. His work wasn’t done.

They finally disentangled themselves, and neither said a word for a moment. Pepper blinked back her tears and took his hands, squeezing them tight.

“I’m sorry about Phil,” she said.

The image of blood-splattered patriotic trading cards, skewed far more red than white and blue, was still too vivid in Tony’s memory. Agent Coulson could be annoyingly persistent, but he’d been just a man on a mission, as they all were. One who would never get his treasured collection signed. Never fly to Portland to see his cellist again. Never see the team he’d given his life to assemble.

He’d never know how much his sacrifice meant, but Tony did, and if there was one thing he was certain of in all this chaos, it was this:

He would be avenged.

Tony nodded. “Me too.”

They turned toward the tower together, and started to head up the ramp.

“The star-spangled geezer and the alien prince are out deworming the Big Apple. Our resident superspies are—” Tony glanced behind them as Barton and Romanoff emerged from the helicopter “—right here, for some reason. Wait, why are they here?”

“The jet was rerouted back to Washington,” Pepper said. “I offered them a ride.”

“Stark,” Clint greeted, nodding as they approached.

“Big Bird.”

Natasha acknowledged Pepper with a rare genuine smile, and they headed indoors.

At the entryway to the tower, Bruce was waiting. Given his understandable preference for anonymity the past decade or so, Tony had expected the scientist to be more subtle, but he’d insisted on being among the first to meet Stark Industries’ CEO. Whether to assure himself that he was truly welcome, or look for any excuse to leave, Tony wasn’t sure. Possibly both.

“Miss Potts, this is Dr. Banner.”

They shook hands. “Pleased to meet you. Tony’s studied a lot of your work,” Pepper said, without a hint of irony. She sincerely meant his sole contributions to his scientific fields.

“So I’ve heard,” Bruce replied, offering a nervous smile. “I may be staying here a few weeks. Is… that okay with you?”

“Of course. Stay as long as you’d like.”

Over the phone, Tony had told her as much as she could tolerate hearing – the incident on the Helicarrier, the battle, even the aftermath in the lobby – and both agreed this was the safest place for Banner to be. It was the last place Loki would look for a fight now, and SHIELD would likewise stay out of their business, unless “suicide by Hulk” was covered under their life insurance plans.

Natasha spoke up. “We need to talk. Alone.”

“Alone meaning alone, or is this a group huddle?” Tony asked.

“Avengers business. Miss Potts, do you mind?”

Tony lay a hand on Pepper’s shoulder. “This is a team meeting. Pepper is my team.”

“If it’s about the kind of thing I think it’s about, I don’t know if I want to know,” she said. “I’ll sit this one out, see how Happy’s doing.”

Their close friend and Head of Security had been blindsided and knocked out by Loki’s brainwashed SHIELD agents, his passcodes used to override JARVIS before the AI could warn Tony of their arrival. When he woke up, he evacuated as many people as possible to the basement, and was now recovering in the makeshift Med Bay on the second floor. Tony had visited him last night after having his own injuries looked at, but he’d been asleep, and after all his friend had suffered, he hadn’t wanted to wake him.

“If he’s conscious, give him a hug for me,” Tony said. “And tell him he’s fired.”

“Not a chance.” Pepper smiled and kissed his cheek.

She walked away, calling the private elevator. It opened to reveal the two missing Avengers.

“Ma’am,” Steve said, nodding as they stepped out and moved aside for her. His suit was covered in dirt from hauling debris and fallen alien creatures, and even Thor’s cape was dusty.

“Captain,” she replied, and stared up at Thor. “Your Highness.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed at the Asgardian. Thor just smiled. “Stark, is this your lady?”

“Well, he _is_ my knight in shining armor,” Pepper said, looking back at Tony with a sly grin.

“And her carriage awaits, so if the prince doth give his leave…” Tony gestured to the elevator.

Thor nodded. “Of course. I am honored, Lady…”

“Pepper,” she said.

“Lady Pepper,” he acknowledged with a nod, and she moved to pass by him, but hesitated, doubling back.

“Can I just…?” she asked, pointing to his arm. He looked at her quizzically and smiled when she poked his bicep. Tony rolled his eyes. Pepper gave a satisfied nod and went on her way.

“Just remember, Hammerhead – in this castle, I’m the king,” Tony warned when she’d gone, and sat down on the sofa. “If the Avengers would all gather ‘round the round table, we can begin.”

Clint and Natasha settled on the other side, while Steve remained standing, practically at attention. Thor took Bruce’s preferred seat in the black chair, so the scientist hovered on the periphery, his arms folded as Natasha started.

“After we debriefed, Pierce fired us for insubordination. Fury’s under court martial. Maria Hill is next in the chain of command, but the WSC vetoed her promotion to Director, saying she’s too close to Fury.”

“So who’s in command?” Steve asked.

“Hill is appealing the decision, but for now, it’s Pierce. He’s already got his people in place. It’s like he was planning a coup.”

“Maybe he was,” Clint said.

“And the spectrometer network?” Bruce asked.

Natasha shook her head. “Didn’t have access to their systems. But they would’ve started looking for the Tesseract the moment Pierce called in.”

“Will they find it?” Steve asked.

“They’re well-equipped, but understaffed and underqualified,” Natasha answered. “Except for Selvig, everyone who worked on the Tesseract is dead.”

Thor’s jaw clenched, guilt in his eyes. _Eighty people in two days_. And that was before the attack on New York. The toll could be in the hundreds now, if not thousands. It would be weeks until they knew for certain – and every single death his brother had caused fell upon Thor’s shoulders.

“But they have the network,” Bruce said. “We don’t.”

Tony hauled himself off the sofa – carefully – and wandered over to his workstation. “So we make our own. I’ve got subsidiaries and regional offices in every state and five out of six continents. I’ll tell them to break out the spectrometers and reroute the results back to me. All we need is the right baseline. We may not have access to government satellites, but we’ve got the world’s strongest source of gamma right here.”

Bruce wrung his hands, gaze darting between each Avenger.

“I’m not – I mean, I can’t just—”

“Just a blood sample,” Tony interrupted. “Nothing to get big and green over.”

Bruce shook his head. “We’d have to isolate the gamma from my DNA. If I’d found a way to do that, I’d…”

He trailed off, but his meaning was obvious. _I’d have found a cure._

“A lot’s happened since the last time you were in a lab on your own terms, Bruce. Everything in this tower is state of the art. If it can be done anywhere, it’s here.”

Bruce sighed. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“Great,” Tony said, clapping his hands. “So let’s break for lunch, and get ready to do some science.”

*****

An hour later, Bruce entered the empty 90th floor lab Tony had designated for tracking the Tesseract, finding it empty. Tony himself was still upstairs, on a call with his friend Rhodey – “I take one tour overseas and everything goes to hell” – while he finished the Indian takeout he’d gotten down the street. Save for the private floors at the pinnacle, all of Stark Tower’s resources were now dedicated to relief efforts, including the kitchens, and the engineer had thought Bruce might like a taste of his recent home away from home. The bland butter chicken aside, Bruce had just been glad to stay indoors.

By the time Tony arrived a few minutes later, Bruce had set up his equipment and begun constructing a new algorithm, one that could upload a specific gamma sample to a remote network for simultaneous calibration. The details would be relegated to the more tech-savvy genius, but for now, getting said sample was the most important part, and Bruce opened a phlebotomy kit on the laboratory table.

“Wagner? Really?” Tony said, as a dramatic soprano’s voice rang through the sterile room.

Bruce rolled up his sleeve. “Needles make me nervous. Music relaxes me.”

“I thought you could handle pointy things.”

“A few years back, I was shot with a tranq and nearly lobotomized,” Bruce replied, as casually as he might’ve described the disappointing naan he’d had with lunch. “If someone else tried to jab me with a needle, the result wouldn’t be pretty. I have to do this myself.”

Tony nodded. For once, he had no quick-witted quip – there were some things even he couldn’t joke about. He turned his attention to the algorithm on the monitor, and Bruce removed a strip of rubber from the kit.

“You can tie the tourniquet, though,” the scientist said.

His new friend did so, looping it around Bruce’s bicep and pulling it into a knot as the scientist made a fist. When Bruce gave the signal, Tony tied it off, and Bruce carefully inserted a butterfly needle. Radioactive blood filled the connected vial.

When they’d collected all they needed, Tony took the glass tube from Bruce, holding it up to the light as if he expected to see specks of green within the scarlet.

“I need you to promise me this sample will be destroyed the moment we’re done with it,” Bruce said, disposing of the needle in a biohazard bag.

Tony drew an x over the glowing light in his chest. “Cross my reactor and hope to die." 

“Don’t.” Bruce sighed. “Just make sure there’s no trace left.”

As the scientist carefully applied a bandage to his tiny injury, Tony loaded the tube into a rack and idly swiped at a nearby monitor.

“So, I’ve been thinking…”

Bruce smiled slightly as he shook his head, pulling his sleeve back down. “That can’t be a good sign.”

“The team and the Other Guy should have a heart-to-heart.”

The scientist’s subtle grin fell. “You’re not serious.”

“Deadly.”

“No. Absolutely not,” Bruce replied, walking away to dispose of the biohazard bag, and Tony followed.

“C’mon, Bruce. Big Green is just a big baby. An angry, nigh-indestructible, extremely dangerous baby who could literally crush me like a tin can—”

“Not helping your case, Tony.”

The engineer blocked Bruce’s path. “Point is, we need him on our side, because the next time you get angry, we’ll either be friends, or roadkill. Former Agent Romanoff managed to calm him down once, but she might not always be available to Hulk-sit. We need a Plan B.”

Bruce turned to the window and rubbed his tired eyes. Tony backed off, letting him think it through, and the more silence passed, the more obvious the answer became to both of them.

“It would have to be somewhere remote,” Bruce said.

Tony nodded. “I hear Antarctica is lovely this time of year.”

But as quickly as Banner considered the possibility, his doubts returned. “What if it doesn’t work?”

That answer, too, was obvious. Bruce leaned on the glass, fingers curling into a fist, and shook his head. Tony took out his phone and aimed it toward a nearby hanging monitor, transferring a file.

“Meet Plan C,” Tony said, and Bruce turned.

On the screen was a schematic for an Iron Man suit, unlike any Bruce had seen. Its scale was far larger, its shape rounder, meant to match an opponent more than human.

Bruce stepped back to better focus on the image. “Is that—?”

“Started developing it after the Harlem incident. 100 tons of gold-titanium alloy, though considering Big Green KO’d a giant space whale in one hit, might have to up the ante.”

“You can’t fight him, Tony,” Bruce said.

“Not fight. Distract with violence. There’s a difference.”

“With the same end result. You don’t stand a chance.”

Tony lay a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “So help me out, buddy.”

“How?” Bruce asked.

“Let me study him,” Tony said, gesturing to the lab around them.

Bruce shrugged Tony off. “Like General Ross wanted to study him?”

Fury would’ve given his file to the engineer, to all of them, making sure they knew just how dangerous he was. That’s why even Steve, the first to assure Bruce he didn’t think of him as a threat, had walked on eggshells the moment the scientist seemed the slightest bit nervous. To Ross and SHIELD, he was an asset to be utilized; to the rest of the world, he was a monster. That was all he’d ever be.

“Of course not,” Tony replied. “We just let him be one of the team. Train with him. Give him targets to chase, things to smash. Test his limits, his weaknesses, if he has any. The more data we gather, the better our chances of holding him off long enough to prevent civilian casualties if things go wrong. That’s the priority.”

“Is it the only one?” Bruce demanded.

Tony looked him in the eye, a rare moment of absolute sincerity. “Yes.”

Bruce glanced at the floor, thinking it over. 

The last time he’d put his faith in someone with a vested interest in the Other Guy, he’d found himself staring at a creature beyond even his own gamma-induced nightmare. From what little he’d learned of the resulting fight, the Abomination – and he had to agree with the media’s moniker for that particular monster – was out of commission, declared property of the US military and locked away. But the blood samples that had created it – what had happened to them?

That Bruce hadn’t seen or heard of an army of trained Goliaths rampaging on Ross’ behalf meant something had either gone terribly wrong, or terribly right. He wished he’d had the nerve to ask Fury for the pertinent files as a condition of his consultancy while he had the chance. Then again, when had SHIELD ever been inclined to tell the truth?

But Tony was different. He’d divested from arms dealing, and other than to satisfy a morbid scientific curiosity, had nothing personal to gain from the experiment. As long as he and Bruce had sole access to the research, it was worth the risk.

“Okay,” Bruce agreed.

“Great! You do your thing. I’m gonna send out the memo, tell my people to break out the spectrometers, and then we can get the algorithm up and running. We’ll have that cube before SHIELD even knows what hit them.”

The engineer grinned and backed out of the lab. Bruce turned to his equipment, squinting slightly at the embedded screen. He’d just set up a DNA sequencing program when the lab door hissed open. Natasha knocked on the metal frame.

“Yes?” Bruce asked. He wasn’t going to give permission for her to come in – after all, it wasn’t really his lab. That she’d been able to enter meant she already had access, and she stepped inside, holding something out to him: his glasses.

“They recovered these from the Helicarrier. Thought you might want them back.”

“Thank you,” Bruce said, slipping them on, and his brow furrowed in contemplation. “Tony said you’re the one who brought me back. How?”

“I showed him I was a friend.” 

“Are you?” he asked.

“I know what it’s like to be shot at. Hunted. Feel like there’s nowhere to run and nothing to do but fight. I can’t blame either of you for having trust issues,” Natasha said, and when Bruce frowned, added, “Sorry.”

“No offense taken.” He gave a small, wary grin. “I guess I should’ve expected…”

“What?” Natasha asked.

“Until now, only one person’s been able to break through his rage. I haven’t seen her in… a long time.”

“She must’ve been pretty special.”

“She is,” he replied, and glanced down as he idly wrung his hands. “Do you think you could do it again?”

“Planning on going green?” Natasha asked, instantly masking a flash of fear behind otherwise unreadable eyes.

“Tony thinks I should. Give him a chance to… clear the air with everyone.”

“What do you think?”

Bruce shook his head. “I think it’s a recipe for disaster.”

“It could be,” Natasha agreed. “But if we don’t try, the next time will be a lot worse. And there will be a next time, Bruce. It’s just a matter of when.”

Finally, some truth from the errant spy, even if it was the kind he didn’t want to admit. Trapped after the explosion on the Helicarrier, her lies had been the last thing he’d heard – and the first thing the Other Guy would’ve remembered. It was Bruce’s own anger at her false promises that had sent Hulk into a rage, and no matter how hard he’d tried to remind himself as he changed that she wasn’t a threat, he knew the monster hadn’t listened. It was a miracle she was still alive.

“You’re sure about this?” he asked. “After what happened on the Helicarrier?”

“You remember?”

“No. But I feel.” Bruce almost shuddered at the phantom sensation of Hulk’s fury, forcing himself to let the anger wash over him before it could grow into a tsunami. “He was ready to kill you.”

Natasha was silent for a moment, carefully impassive. “What do you feel now?”

Turning away, Bruce sighed, removing his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. He could solve differential equations in his sleep, but trying to recall anything Hulk had done was like swimming upstream in a flood, blinded by an unstoppable current and deafened by an endless roar. Every once in a while, he broke the surface, and rarely did what he see give him hope. This was a rare exception.

“He trusts you,” Bruce said, surprised. There was a smile, a touch, a promise – one the beast had believed. Bruce knew better.

Natasha gave him a knowing look. “But you don’t.”

“I don’t,” he replied, shaking his head, almost an apology. Not for being wary – that was entirely justified – but for knowing his own feelings could put her in danger again, and being powerless to stop it.

“Like I said, I don’t blame you. For anything,” she said pointedly. “And neither should you.”

“I just don’t want to hurt anyone – to let him hurt anyone.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to, either.”

Bruce folded his arms. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, maybe he’s not the monster you think he is.”

Gritting his teeth, Bruce turned away, afraid of the rising hatred getting closer and closer to his heart – at her, at SHIELD, at Ross, at someone long dead but never forgotten. What did she know about monsters? All her years of lying and torturing and killing were nothing to bones crushed and spines shattered with his bare hands, organs bursting and blood splattering as the creature smashed their mangled corpses into the ground. Bruce may not have made the choice to transform, but deep down, he had the will. The creature only did what he needed it to do, what he _wanted_ it to do. He knew the Hulk was a monster.

Because so was he.

With a sigh, Bruce put on his glasses. “I have a lot of work to do, Agent Ro—uh, Natasha,” he said, correcting himself. “If you don’t mind…?”

Behind him, Natasha hesitated, and he wondered if the silence was meant to catch his attention. He didn’t bother to find out, ignoring her as he returned to setting up for the DNA analysis.

Finally, her footsteps headed for the door.

“See you ‘round, Doc.”


End file.
